MADONNAS OF PRAGUE

 

 

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My favorite city in Europe is Prague, but unfortunately so many religious sites are now museums, since Communism took over this great city. One is the Convent of St. Agnes of Bohemia (formerly a monastery of the Poor Clares), which now houses the medieval collection (1200-1550) of the National Gallery in Prague. 

Unlike so many Black Madonnas,  the MADONNA OF BREZNICE cannot be attributed to the Byzantine style, candle smoke, or the 'saponification of the white lead' in the paint. For around her halo reads: "Nigra sum sed formosa filia Jerusalem)." ("I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem.”)  from the Song of Songs 1:4-5.

The painting bears a Latin inscription on the back, which reads in English: "This image of the glorious Virgin, commissioned by (…) the most illustrious King of Bohemia, was painted to resemble the image in Roudnice, which Saint Luke painted with his own hand. A.D. 1396".

There are at least half dozen other Black Madonnas in Prague.

The Black Madonna on the House of the Black Madonna.

The17th century wood Madonna stands inside a gilded cage on the corner edge of a Cubist-style house which now houses an art museum dedicated to cubism.  The statue at the House of the Black Madonna today is actually a copy from the late 1990s when the building underwent restoration. The original is in the possession of the Prague City Gallery and is sometimes displayed at the House of the Stone Bell at Old Town Square.The exact origin of the hardwood statue isn’t clear, but it dates to at least the 17th century. (Below)  

Another Black Madonna statue sits in the Santa Casa (Holy House) at the Loreta in the Prague Castle district. The shrine, a free-standing elaborately decorated house in the middle of the monastery complex, has several depictions of Mary including a dark wooden statue behind a golden fence.

The house is a full-scale copy of the Basilica della Santa Casa in the town of Loreto in the hills of the Marche region of Italy. The shrine is supposedly the house where Mary lived and home to Our Lady of Loreto, a highly venerated Black Madonna. The Christian legend holds that angels transported the house from Nazareth to Italy.

Painted and framed Black Madonna icons with gilding and jewels can be seen in the back of the Church of St. Thomas Church in the Malá Strana district. The origin is lost in time. (Right)

There is also one above the doorway to  a residential building on Truhlářská Street, though this one actually may be simply due to pollution darkening the stonework. When the rest of the building was cleaned, the Madonna was left black, though. (Below)